The benchmark 100% B grade white rice in Thailand, the world's biggest exporter, rose 1.7% to $590 per tonne on the back of firm demand from African countries, they said.
"Thailand could sell around 100,000-200,000 tonnes rice per month to Africa, mostly parboiled rice," one trader said.
Thailand is expected to sell around 2 million tonnes of rice to Africa in 2009, unchanged from last year, exporters said.
The Southeast Asian nation has a target to export 8.5 million tonnes of rice this year, down from sales of 9.5 million tonnes in 2008.
Thai prices were also supported by a government intervention scheme which has bought 4.5 million tonnes of rice from farmers since November. It aims to buy up to 8 million tonnes before the programme expires in February.
Vietnam expects to export 1.5 million tonnes of rice this year to the Philippines, the government in Hanoi said on Wednesday, in its first confirmation of the size of a massive deal that boosted export quotations.
The pact, accounting for 30% of Vietnam's projected export volume this year, would fill the annual grain import needs of the Philippines, the world's largest rice buyer.
"The deal with Manila has had a clear impact on domestic rice prices," a trader with a foreign firm in Ho Chi Minh City said.
VIETNAM RAISES FLOOR PRICES In Viet Nam, the second biggest rice exporter, prices were higher after the government raised export floor prices by up to 6.4 percent on Tuesday. Loading demand for shipments to the Philippines also gave prices a lift.
The minimum export price of 5-percent broken rice was $420 per tonne, FOB, Saigon Port, up 5 percent from $400 a tonne previously, according to Vietnam's Food Association (VFA).
The floor prices for the 10% and 25-percent broken grades are now $415 and $390 a tonne, FOB Saigon Port, respectively, up from $390 and $370 before, the VFA said in a report.
However, traders said they could still find 5% Vietnamese rice offered at around $390 per tonne.
"It means nothing," one Bangkok-based trader said.
"Every time Viet Nam sets floor prices, we can still buy at around 5% lower than the floor prices available in the market," he said.
The industry group said it expected Vietnamese shipments to reach 2.8 million tonnes in the first half of 2009, up nearly 15% from the same period last year.
In India, the government was expected to again lower the floor price for basmati rice exports to help traders losing market share to rival Pakistan.
"Pakistan is selling at much lower price, making us uncompetitive," Indian Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters on Monday.
Last month, the government reduced the minimum price at which exports are allowed to $1,100 per tonne from $1,200 per tonne.
But Indian exporters, who have faced defaults from buyers as prices fell, were unimpressed, saying that the cut was inadequate. (Reuters)
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